This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

Alfred “Budd” Johnston says he was ‘not myself’ and has admitted to misconduct in two cases before a review council.

Justice of the Peace Alfred "Budd" Johnston leaves a July 22 hearing into two complaints of misconduct against him, including the dismissal of 68 provincial offences en masse because the prosecutor was 71 seconds late. (Todd Coyne / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

An Ontario justice of the peace who
tossed out 68 cases
en masse because a prosecutor was 71 seconds late to his courtroom says he was ‘not himself’ when he acted, due to health problems and the breakup of his marriage.

The first is that Johnston’s “impatience,” “arrogant attitude” and “mocking sarcastic manner” on Nov. 22, 2012, prevented a man from getting a fair hearing on a traffic violation, according to the particulars of the complaints before the council.

The second is that Johnston’s behaviour on Dec. 4, 2012, “constituted an abuse of power” when he dismissed an entire day’s court docket and “negatively impacted the confidence of members of the public in the judiciary and in the administration of justice.”

The presenting lawyer Marie Henein is recommending the justice of the peace face suspension without pay — albeit with benefits — for up to 30 days for his behaviour.

Johnston’s lawyer Peter Brauti is asking that his client’s punishment be limited to a warning, a reprimand on his record, an official apology and an order that Johnston continue getting counselling in his duties as a justice of the peace.

Brauti argued that suspending Johnston would not uphold faith in the justice system for any “fully informed member of the public.”

In a letter submitted as evidence to the three-member review council on Tuesday, Johnston wrote: “At the time of the incidents which bring me before this council, I was simply not myself,” citing the end of his 35-year marriage, trouble controlling his diabetes, nausea, disorientation, chest pains and a mild heart attack, as “context” for his bad behaviour.

Johnston, who has served as a justice of the peace since 2003 and as a prosecutor since 1980, avoided the gazes of the panel for most of the proceedings.

He rose only once to speak three short sentences on his own behalf, apologizing for his actions.

“I understand that I didn’t conduct myself in a professional manner. … I embarrassed myself and my family. … I sincerely apologize …” he said.

The two incidents that triggered the complaints against Johnston happened within 12 days of each other.

In the first, Johnston feigned ignorance of the law in upholding a charge of driving while using a hand-held device against Alexander Leaf, a delivery driver who was behind the wheel of his vehicle at the time of the alleged offence.

Johnston was sarcastic in his treatment of the defendant, who was acting without a lawyer, feigned ignorance of a precedent case and denied that Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act allows delivery drivers to use two-way radios while working.

When Leaf offered to fetch a copy of the act from his truck for the court to see, Johnston told Leaf that he had personally just checked the act and that no such exemption existed, thereby denying Leaf his right to a defence.

“I just came down here today to look him in the eye,” Leaf told the Star before the proceedings. “It’s been a long ordeal.”

Just days after the prior ruling was given and later appealed, Johnston tossed out 68 charges against 63 defendants for offences ranging from traffic, bylaw and parking infractions to breaches of provincial liquor and tobacco laws.

The dismissal was due to the perceived slight of a city prosecutor who was barely more than a minute late to court because he was signing in defendants and witnesses in the hallway.

Johnston’s lawyer told the review council that, aside from his client’s “family issues,” the two complaints against him constitute the “worst things” in his life.

Johnston intends to retire next summer, Brauti added.

The Justice of the Peace Review Council will deliver its ruling on the complaints on Aug. 19, pending the receipt of letters from Johnson’s doctors and counsellor proving a link in the timing of Johnston’s personal and medical problems and the poor judgments that gave rise to the complaints.

Correction - July 23, 2014:
This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly referred to Alexander Leaf as a delivery driver for Purolator.

More from the Toronto Star & Partners

LOADING

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com